• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Review

Hey folks, Valkor here. Midnight screenings are always a blast, mostly because you know only the hardest of the hardcore are gonna be in attendance, which makes the whole movie going experience that much more fun, mostly because everyone is there with a common goal: to be the first to catch the latest hot new flick. In this case it’s to watch the film interpretation of a possibly THE hottest book of all time. I’m talkin Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Half-Blood Prince


Yea, it’s arguable that six is the best, but in my eyes book six is where it’s at. Yea book three begins the Harry’s trek on the dark path, but book 6 is where the series hits its peak, hits the ground running and doesn’t stop until the climatic end. For the most part the film does follow the book, but opens waaaaaay different. Here we start with the Death Eaters causing all sorts of chaos on the Muggle world, movin on to Harry getting his flirt on with a waitress hottie, when who should appear? Our wizard fav Dumbledore. He’s got a charred hand and he looks tired, but still he takes Harry to meet Professor Slughorn, whom they try to convince to teach again at Hogwarts. Eventually he does. It’s then when the movie begins to follow the book, but just to glance over a few plot points, Harry finds a book that helps him rock Potions. Ron gets a girlfriend, Hermoine… is just Hermoine, and Dumbledore takes Harry on a few Pensieve quest for him to learn about Voldermort. Snape makes an unbreakable promise and Draco Malfoy has his own mission that could cause him his life if he fails. There’s more to this film than what I mentioned, but I wanna stay away from spoilers. But all of this closes off with a dramatic, suspenseful finish, which closes on a sad note. Will fans of the book be pleased? Will followers of the films be sassified?

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The Good

Yes! Yes! Oh my god yes! Everything about this film compliments the book to a T. You know after the disappointing fourth film, I thought the rest of the series couldn’t possibly be represented faithfully on screen. But the fifth film proved me wrong and the sixth just took it up a notch on the positive. Story wise, much of the film stays true to the source, leaving out bits that slow it down, not necessary, or taking out characters entirely moving the story along to a nice flow. Case in point when Malfoy is crying like a little bitch in the bathroom, in the book we get Moaning Myrtle, but in the film she’s not present. Fortunately the scene works without her. Another plus is the cast; in my opinion, everyone was in fine form especially Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore, who’s less aggressive… yet he seemed a bit “too” fond of Potter in this film, if you know what I mean… Kudos goes out to Alan Rickman for his Severus Snape who kicks ass, has more to do in this round, and he looks good doing it. In fact everyone of the older cast looked damn good, which is weird because in the fifth film everyone looked way older; in this one, the elder cast looked damn good, even Molly Weasley, played by Julie Walters, I mean she looked DAMN good, in that Florence Henderson, yea she looks like a granny but I’d still bang her, kinda way. Yea… I’d do stuff to her. (That’s right I said it). A big plus goes to Tom Felton aka Draco Malfoy; I say this as a staunch hetero-male and quite proud of it, but dude you look damn good and played the role to a T. Rupert Grint aka Ron Weasley, thank god they stopped with the sniveling and made Ron man up a bit, though he’s less prominent in this film, still not a bad job. Finally I gotta give big ups to the writers or whoever was in charge for putting in some “suggestive” moments. Ginny in a bathrobe, standing in front of Harry, she bends down to… tie his shoe… Yea you gotta see it to see what I’m talkin about. So great adaptation, great cast, great job!

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The Bad

I guess what I’m about to say may be considered nitpicky, but I don’t think so. For starters I hated the opening. I think the book opening would have been better interspersed with the Death Eaters wrecking London and the Muggle world. Not enough Hagrid, then again he’s there when it counts, and Hogwarts doesn’t seem as “alive” as it once was. You know the moving stairway, the moving pictures, yea they are there but not as animated. Yea that one is definitely nitpicky, but that’s what gave the film its charm, you know magical castle, all kinds of shit happening. Finally there’s the burning of the Burrow. Wait when did this happen in the book? And why did it have to happen in this film?

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The Ugly

N/A

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Book to films are never perfect, some sacrifices have to be made. In the case of the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, I think the writer, producers, and directors made some acceptable changes keeping the heart of the story intact, while throwing in some stuff to smooth the transition. Good or bad, I say Half Blood Prince is definitely worth the price of admission and any fan of the book series will enjoy it a whole lot. Out of 5 TOV stars I give the film 4 stars and its Valkor tested, TOV approved.

Half-Blood Prince


Avada Kedavra - Valkor Out

Half-Blood Prince